Local radio show celebrates languages

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The sounds of Tagalog, Italian, Cree and more than a dozen other languages filled Saskatoon airwaves during a radio show highlighting the city's cultural diversity.

"Shubho shokal (Good morning), Saskatoon," Jebunnessa Chapola said to open her CFCR community radio program Sunday morning.

Her show, Banglar Gaan O Kotha (Bengal songs and stories), fell just a couple of days after the United Nations' International Mother Language Day.

She and technician Ranjan Datta invited the guests to speak their language, perform songs or recite poems.

"I tried to involve as many people as possible," she said.

Chapola noted the day is in commemoration of the students killed in 1952 in the present day Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

They were protesting to have Bengali included as an official language when some were shot and killed by soldiers.

The day, celebrated internationally since 1999, is one way to remind the world of the importance of language preservation, she said.

"Language contains ideas about how we look at the world," said Belinda Daniels, one of the speakers. Daniels, a high school teacher who also teaches Cree at the University of Saskatchewan, said it can be a method of passing on knowledge of food, spirituality, the environment and other aspects of life. She and some other Cree speakers represented First Nations people, and she hopes to join other First Nations linguistic groups such as Dene next year.

Eriko Musashi came to Saskatoon from Japan two years ago to study business economics at the U of S. She said events like this confirm her belief that Saskatoon was the right city.

"It's kind of tough in the winter, but I didn't want to go to a big city," she said.

Nigerian David Olan, who's taking international studies at the U of S, agreed.

"I looked at the rating of the school. I looked at crime rates. I can walk down the street with no fear," he said. "I got my smile back when I came here."